UN gets timetable for full Syrian pullout

A Syrian woman offers flowers to a soldier coming back from Lebanon early yesterday in the snowy border town of Jdaidet Yabous. Some 60 Syrian military vehicles carrying troops and equipment crossed the Lebanese-Syrian border early today through this border post 40km west of Damascus and 70km east of Beirut. PHOTO: AFP

The long convoy of vehicles carrying Syrian soldiers returned home amid a heavy snowfall early Saturday to the cheers of Syrian well-wishers, who chanted "Syria! Syria!" handed out flowers and threw rice.

UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen did not give any details about timing after meeting with Assad in the northern city of Aleppo but said he would discuss the matter at the United Nations next week.

"I will present UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with further details of the timetable for a complete Syrian pullout from Lebanon upon arrival in New York early next week," Roed-Larsen said in a statement read to The Associated Press by Roed-Larsen's spokesman Najib Friji.

Chants of "Syria we love you" erupted from a crowd of about 300 men, women and children as 62 military trucks hauling supplies, eight buses loaded with soldiers and jeeps carrying officers crossed into Syria. The convoy also included a battle tank on a flatbed truck.

The civilians, sheltering in the cold under the roof of a Syrian customs drivethrough point, also waved Syrian flags or blew whistles. A heavy snowfall delayed the crossing for several hours.

Some people handed flowers to the soldiers, others threw rice, rose petals and sweets at the vehicles in the traditional Arab welcome. A group sang nationalist songs to the beat of drums.

Soldiers responded by flashing victory signs. One climbed atop a vehicle to hold a picture of Assad.

A Syrian officer at the border, speaking on condition of anonymity, said about 1,000 soldiers made the crossing.

Roed-Larsen had been expected to press Assad for a timetable for a full withdrawal from Lebanon during their meeting, but UN associate spokeswoman Marie Okabe said he "was not operating with the use of threats." UN Security Council Resolution 1559 calls for, among other things, an immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

"The meeting was very constructive and I am much encouraged by President Assad's commitment to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1559," Roed-Larsen said. "The president has committed to withdraw all Syrian troops and intelligence from Lebanon in fulfillment of Security Council resolution 1559."

Assad decided a week ago to call Syria's 14,000 troops home after relentless US-led international pressure and anti-Syrian protests in Lebanon. By late Friday, almost all of Syria's troops in Lebanon had moved into the eastern Bekaa Valley nearly three weeks ahead of a March 31 target date to complete the first phase of redeployment.